Craftsman LT1000 "NellyBelle"

BTW, here's how the exhaust sounds!

Cup holders are the best ! I hate mowing with my tractors, which is why none of them have decks anymore lol

Most mowers have a giant flaw, they put the cup holder on the same side as the discharge chute, so unless you have closed top you get a grassy drink. LOL

My shifter is shoot side. Cup holder it's opposite on my Craftsman. Lol

Really? Huh.  My chute was on the other side.

I had a cup holder on the opposite side on Mutt. Had to take it out to fit the Execs. New fender didn't even have the hole lol.

Yeah, I need to redneck engineer a cup holder some time.

On the old john deere Bs back up in new york, just about every one in our family had a Maxwell House coffee can bolted to the side of the dash. Tractors back in 1940 didnt exactly have user comforts like cupholders lol

Lol yeah , all of my grampas old tractors had that . not pretty but functional

A bean can and a giant hose clamp should work! 

So, here's some old footage of riding Nellybelle.  The head broke off the shifter, so I just put it into gear with a wrench and wasn't going to shift.  The battery was dead, so it was hard to start, but the main issue is the solenoid fell off the bottom of the carb.  The threads are stripped out, so I at least need a carb.  Anyway, here's the footage.
https://photos.google.com/photo/AF1QipPhA3BoaIXGGVt3y3B54xZHw006hZMHqFx0vL-R
(For some reason YT just won't upload it, IDK.)

I'm putting different fenders on it cause I can't stand the stock Craftsman fenders, and I plan to put a new bumper, big aggressive lights, and new front tires.  I'm lowering the seat in the rear and relocating the battery.  Since I need to replace the carb, I'm thinking of a Mikuni (I doubt that's spelled right),and then putting a snorkel on that.

Should be pretty good, if you have any idears, throw 'em out!!!

I hate the lt1000s bodywork and then the lt6000 has my favorite look ever. And my lt4000 is in between. I like the fenders but i'm not a huge fan of the hood.

I kinda like the hood, but it and the new fenders look great! Should be much safer after I do the weight mods, cant wait!

A nice heavy duty solid axle front suspension setup would be cool too. Hahaha, I kid I kid. Although IFS woulda maybe worked better for what youre doing.

Im considering it, if I can get some cheap shocks.

Nah everyone uses coilover shocks, go with coil springs and shocks if you're doing a solid axle. That'd be cooler.

I'll try to find some. I know a person who has like 15 junked cars in her yard, might be able to get some from her.

Look for golf carts . they are a mower usable weight and size, or motorcycles

Okay I will.

Course I havent decided if Im gonna do front suspension yet.

Mockup of the new fenders.

Looks sweet! I really like the floorboards too. what are they from?

77 roper. Was gonna use it in the buildoff, but the whole frame is unusable.



This was consistent across the whole tractor.

Now, I think I'm going to enter NellyBelle into the buildoff, because I have a ton more work to do.

Okay, I'm gonna preface this with saying I know I'm crazy.
I want a diesel engine in NellyBelle. They don't make vertical shaft Diesel engines, so I can't buy one, plus I don't have the money.
I've thought about the differences between a gas and a diesel engine. No spark (easy, just pull the cap of the plug), more compression (I'll have to study on that, might be hard to get enough compression), a glow plug, and no carb. Her carb is already bad, sooo....
Found a video on someone who tried to do something similar.


Does anyone else think it's possible, or is it crazy dangerous, or what. Lemme know.

They actually do make vertical shaft air-cooled diesels, I've seen V-twins which is awesome. They are very hard to get a hold of. For what it's worth I'd say the conversion would be a lot of effort just to say you have a diesel engine. The stock crank, rod, head, block, etc would most likely not hold up to the compression required to make a diesel engine run. Also you wold have to figure out some sort of injection system be it mechanical or EFI. Obviously it's your call but I say it probably ain't really worth it.

i agree with ak, but it would be really cool to do but super complex.

Yeah, I figured it would be a lot of work. Hadn't thought about the structural integrity of the rod and the crank. Like I said, it is a crazy idea.  I think I'll keep it gas, but if I get the chance to buy a diesel, I will.
Also, if you can convert a vertical shaft to a horizontal shaft, how come people don't convert a horizontal to a vertical?